This invention relates to product displays and in particular to hangable product display strips.
Product manufacturers and suppliers want their products displayed in prominent locations in an eye-catching manner likely to attract consumers. Retail outlets typically wish to maximize the quantity of products displayed for sale, and thus, premium shelf and floor space is limited. One way to increase the available space for display of certain products in high traffic areas, such as aisle end caps and check out lanes, is to attach the products to display strips. Such strips typically mount to the front of a shelf and sometimes project out into the aisle to make them more visible.
One example of a product display strip can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,690. This display strip includes a vertical support that mounts to the front of shelving and holds a wire bracket suspending a metal strip. The strip has a number of vertically spaced tabs or tongues cut out at all but one side on which the products are hung. Each tongue is bent at an angle away from the strip so that products can hang on the strip by simply slipping the tongue in a slot formed in the product package.
Such conventional product display strips are disadvantageous because they require the products being displayed to be adapted for hanging, such as by attaching a hanger to the product or by having packaging with a hanger feature. And, because the products are suspended, they are susceptible to falling from the display and being damaged, for example in the event the hanger breaks or the hanger is not properly seated on the hook. This problem is exacerbated when the display is loaded with many products suspended closely together and overlapping each other (as is common), which makes it likely that the consumer will inadvertently knock off one or more products adjacent the product being taken from the display.
It is also common for producers, especially of food products, to issue coupons that can be redeemed at the retail outlets for a reduction in the cost of the product. The coupons can be provided to the consumers at the point of purchase as a way of enticing consumers to purchase their products rather than their competitor's. Manual and automated coupon dispensers have been developed and utilized for dispensing one coupon at a time to the consumer. For example, manual dispenser boxes of the type for dispensing one coupon from a stack of coupons are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,979,699 and 6,367,654 assigned to the assignee of the present invention, which are hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. These dispensers include a container holding a stack of the individual coupons, which may be folded (and possibly interleaved). Some device or technique for issuing a single coupon at a time may also be incorporated into the dispenser. For example, the containers may house a spring element to push the coupons toward an access opening so that only the upper or outermost sheet sticks out of the access opening so only it can be easily grasped.
Such conventional dispensers are usually mounted to the front of shelving holding the item(s) for sale associated with the coupon. These dispensers can be disadvantageous in that they require separate mounting hardware. Moreover, it is possible for the dispenser to become dislocated from the associated product(s), for example if the products are stocked in free standing displays or near check out aisles wherein suitable mounts are unavailable.
Accordingly, an improved product display which addresses the shortcomings of the prior art is needed.